placestats

Labor share of income vs. Religion very important

Holds up after adjusting for income

A country is not a person. Countries where more people are counted as belonging to this group also tend to differ on the other measure, and that is all. It does not follow that the people in the group are the people with the different score. Making that leap is called the ecological fallacy: reading a pattern across places as a fact about individual people. It is the most common misuse of this kind of data. Religion also varies strongly with region, history and national income, so much of what looks religious here is really those. That is what the adjusted figures are for. The religion shares are estimates for two years only, and the survey questions are asked in rounds that can be ten years apart.

Across 91 countries, Labor share of income and Religion very important rise and fall together at r = -0.53 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). It holds up almost unchanged when only countries with similar income (GDP per person) are compared (r = -0.57, q = 0.028, allowing for the many pairs tested).

Comparing countries across the middle half of religion very important, 14.4% to 59.4% of respondents, labor share of income is 8.71% of GDP lower at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 11.7% of GDP.

Link before adjusting (r)-0.529p = 6.8e-8 · 91 countries
After adjusting for national income-0.567p = 5.8e-9 · likely range [-0.69, -0.41]
p, allowing for regions0.012standard error 0.159 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.028across 18,622 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Labor share of income · % of GDPlink with income +0.08 · independent
Religion very important · % of respondentslink with income -0.66 · high

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Labor share of income · % of GDP →Religion very important · % of respondents →17.7%74.1%3.25%98.9%Albania: 70.5% of GDP, 24.4% of respondentsArgentina: 52.8% of GDP, 24.3% of respondentsArmenia: 50.9% of GDP, 52.7% of respondentsAustralia: 54.6% of GDP, 13.8% of respondentsAustria: 60.8% of GDP, 13.9% of respondentsAzerbaijan: 39.2% of GDP, 15.9% of respondentsBelgium: 58.6% of GDP, 13.2% of respondentsBurkina Faso: 42.6% of GDP, 82.9% of respondentsBulgaria: 51.7% of GDP, 21.9% of respondentsBosnia and Herzegovina: 67.1% of GDP, 39.8% of respondentsBelarus: 57% of GDP, 19.7% of respondentsBolivia: 49.8% of GDP, 58.4% of respondentsBrazil: 51.1% of GDP, 45.1% of respondentsCanada: 65.9% of GDP, 15.5% of respondentsSwitzerland: 65.3% of GDP, 11.3% of respondentsChile: 44% of GDP, 20.7% of respondentsChina: 56.1% of GDP, 3.25% of respondentsColombia: 47.8% of GDP, 58.4% of respondentsCyprus: 53.7% of GDP, 50.5% of respondentsCzechia: 51.2% of GDP, 7.67% of respondentsGermany: 63.7% of GDP, 13.5% of respondentsDenmark: 60.1% of GDP, 5.73% of respondentsEcuador: 53% of GDP, 53.6% of respondentsEgypt, Arab Rep.: 36.2% of GDP, 97.3% of respondentsSpain: 59.4% of GDP, 17.2% of respondentsEstonia: 60.7% of GDP, 6.54% of respondentsFinland: 58.3% of GDP, 11% of respondentsFrance: 63.1% of GDP, 14.3% of respondentsUnited Kingdom: 59.5% of GDP, 15.6% of respondentsGeorgia: 46.7% of GDP, 69.6% of respondentsGreece: 54% of GDP, 54.8% of respondentsGuatemala: 46.9% of GDP, 51.5% of respondentsHong Kong SAR, China: 52.7% of GDP, 10.7% of respondentsCroatia: 61.3% of GDP, 20.6% of respondentsHungary: 53.7% of GDP, 16.1% of respondentsIndonesia: 50.9% of GDP, 98.1% of respondentsIndia: 53.3% of GDP, 64.2% of respondentsIreland: 30.9% of GDP, 27.7% of respondentsIran, Islamic Rep.: 39.3% of GDP, 70.5% of respondentsIraq: 29.6% of GDP, 87.6% of respondentsIceland: 61.7% of GDP, 13.2% of respondentsItaly: 51.2% of GDP, 24.9% of respondentsJordan: 49.3% of GDP, 95.4% of respondentsJapan: 58.7% of GDP, 4.58% of respondentsKazakhstan: 37.3% of GDP, 28.7% of respondentsKenya: 54% of GDP, 86.7% of respondentsKyrgyz Republic: 40% of GDP, 56% of respondentsKorea, Rep.: 54.6% of GDP, 10.3% of respondentsKuwait: 24.9% of GDP, 86.5% of respondentsLebanon: 44.5% of GDP, 64.1% of respondentsLithuania: 57.1% of GDP, 12.2% of respondentsLuxembourg: 49.8% of GDP, 16.8% of respondentsLatvia: 62.2% of GDP, 8.84% of respondentsMacao SAR, China: 32.2% of GDP, 6.63% of respondentsMorocco: 46.5% of GDP, 89% of respondentsMoldova: 51.3% of GDP, 32.9% of respondentsMexico: 38.1% of GDP, 50.5% of respondentsNorth Macedonia: 52.5% of GDP, 53.7% of respondentsMalta: 45.9% of GDP, 58.7% of respondentsMongolia: 40.6% of GDP, 8.76% of respondentsMalaysia: 39.7% of GDP, 72.4% of respondentsNigeria: 31.2% of GDP, 93.4% of respondentsNicaragua: 52% of GDP, 60% of respondentsNetherlands: 55.9% of GDP, 11.9% of respondentsNorway: 38.4% of GDP, 11.2% of respondentsNew Zealand: 55.4% of GDP, 14.5% of respondentsPeru: 40.1% of GDP, 44.6% of respondentsPhilippines: 44.9% of GDP, 88.9% of respondentsPoland: 54.8% of GDP, 37.3% of respondentsPortugal: 61.7% of GDP, 20.1% of respondentsQatar: 17.7% of GDP, 98.9% of respondentsRomania: 50% of GDP, 48.2% of respondentsRussian Federation: 52.9% of GDP, 17.4% of respondentsRwanda: 74.1% of GDP, 40.3% of respondentsSingapore: 43.9% of GDP, 34% of respondentsSerbia: 63.7% of GDP, 25.3% of respondentsSlovak Republic: 53.2% of GDP, 22.2% of respondentsSlovenia: 63.3% of GDP, 11.5% of respondentsSweden: 61% of GDP, 9.48% of respondentsThailand: 43.8% of GDP, 41.8% of respondentsTajikistan: 43.6% of GDP, 63.1% of respondentsTrinidad and Tobago: 33.8% of GDP, 78.5% of respondentsTunisia: 56.1% of GDP, 90.6% of respondentsTurkiye: 42.6% of GDP, 60% of respondentsUkraine: 55.8% of GDP, 19.5% of respondentsUruguay: 51.9% of GDP, 19.5% of respondentsUnited States: 56.8% of GDP, 37.1% of respondentsUzbekistan: 37.9% of GDP, 45.1% of respondentsSouth Africa: 54.3% of GDP, 55.8% of respondentsZambia: 30% of GDP, 75.7% of respondentsZimbabwe: 53.3% of GDP, 87.7% of respondentsALBCANCHEIDNIRLKWTMACNGANORQATRWATUN

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted-0.5296.8e-891
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted-0.5403.3e-891
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income-0.5675.8e-991
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income-0.4831.4e-691

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 91 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: -0.037 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from -0.598 (without MNG) to -0.492 (without QAT). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: QAT (+0.074).

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific13-0.34
Europe & Central Asia46-0.41
Latin America & Caribbean12-0.64

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third31-0.28
Middle third30-0.63
Richest third30-0.57

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians57-0.56
Muslims21-0.42

By last European coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Never a European colony14-0.28
Spain12-0.40
United Kingdom19-0.77

By official ideology

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Nationalist13-0.59
No strong official ideology65-0.48

By party system

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
No parties banned72-0.39

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = -0.492 after dropping 1 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 0years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Not enough history inside each country to look at this over time. That needs countries measured for several years in a row, and at least one of these measures is measured too rarely.

The data


% of GDP
% of respondents		Years
Rwanda RWA74.1%40.3%2023, 2014
Albania ALB70.5%24.4%2023, 2022
Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH67.1%39.8%2023, 2022
Canada CAN65.9%15.5%2023, 2022
Switzerland CHE65.3%11.3%2023, 2022
Germany DEU63.7%13.5%2023, 2022
Serbia SRB63.7%25.3%2023, 2022
Slovenia SVN63.3%11.5%2023, 2022
France FRA63.1%14.3%2023, 2022
Latvia LVA62.2%8.84%2023, 2022
Iceland ISL61.7%13.2%2023, 2022
Portugal PRT61.7%20.1%2023, 2022
Croatia HRV61.3%20.6%2023, 2022
Sweden SWE61%9.48%2023, 2022
Austria AUT60.8%13.9%2023, 2022

Feenstra, Robert C., Robert Inklaar and Marcel P. Timmer (2015), "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table", American Economic Review, 105(10), 3150-3182, www.ggdc.net/pwt. Data: Penn World Table version 11.0, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, doi:10.34894/FABVLR.
Haerpfer, C. et al., World Values Survey; EVS, European Values Study

Sources

Labor share of income

Labor share of GDP (Penn World Table)

Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen · via DataverseNL · CC BY 4.0 · updated irregular (new versions every few years)

The share of a country's income (GDP) that is paid to people for their work: wages, salaries and benefits, plus an estimate of what the self-employed, such as farmers and shopkeepers, earn for their work. The rest goes to the owners of land, buildings and machines as profit, rent and interest. Where there is little data on the self-employed, the Penn World Table fills in a value by a fixed rule, so figures for poorer countries are rougher, and a few countries show the same value every year. No "better" direction is set.

Religion very important

Share saying religion is very important in their life

World Values Survey Association and European Values Study · via Our World in Data · Free for non-commercial use with attribution · updated irregular (survey waves, roughly every 5 years)

The strongest of four answers. The others are "rather", "not very" and "not at all" important. Thinking religion is important is different from attending services, and the gap between them is the interesting part. The United States reports high importance while attendance falls. Several Catholic countries show the reverse. No "better" direction is set, for the same reason as attendance. The survey runs in waves, not every year.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2010–2023. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 18,622 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated V-Dem v16; V-Party v2. How the country data works · explore Labor share of income and Religion very important

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Labor share of income changes Religion very important, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Labor share of income or Religion very important